After sharp improvement in Justin Plapp's first season as senior coach last year, the Casey Scorpions will be hoping to move further up the ladder in 2016.
Coach: Justin Plapp (second year)
2015 finish: 8th
2015 best and fairest placings: 1. Aidan Riley / 2. Jack Fitzpatrick / 3. Mitch Gent
2015 leading goalkicker: Jayden Hunt and Max King (13)
Last premiership: 1999
Alignment: Melbourne
Casey showed significant improvement in Justin Plapp’s first year as senior coach after a 2014 season in which it finished 14th with just five wins. Plapp aimed to bring the AFL-listed Demons and VFL-listed Scorpions closer off the field in order to make the team better on it, and a finals berth was the result. However, Essendon jumped Casey early in their elimination final and the Scorpions were unable to reel in the deficit, losing by 21 points.
The club’s biggest loss will be 10-year defender and captain for the last four seasons Evan Panozza, who has moved to the Gold Coast to play in the NEAFL. The Scorpions have also lost the top three finishers in their 2015 best and fairest count, with Aidan Riley delisted, Jack Fitzpatrick traded to Hawthorn and Mitch Gent playing with Noble Park in the Eastern Football League after 60 senior VFL games.
A premium was placed on contested play under Plapp, as Casey ranked in the top three clubs for hitouts, clearances, and tackles per game across last year’s home-and-away season. The loss of Melbourne’s All Australian ruckman Mark Jamar will hurt in that department but the Scorpions have signed 203cm Oscar McInerney to support Demons Jake Spencer and Max King. The contested work of Aaron Cotte – one of the club’s raft of TAC Cup signings – will also help in the middle.
However, Casey will need to find an answer to its inability to turn stoppage dominance into scores, after ranking in the bottom four clubs for goals and scores per inside 50 in 2015. Tom Baker booted 60 goals in 17 Nepean Football League games last year and could boost the club’s firepower inside 50. The Scorpions have also secured medium defender Todd Vander Haar – the son of former Essendon champion Paul – and midfielder Yarran Jaffer-Williams, a former member of the Sydney Swans Academy.
In exciting news for Melbourne fans, a trio of high AFL draft picks are likely to spend time developing at Casey, with Christian Petracca returning from an ACL injury and Clayton Oliver and Sam Weideman joining the Demons in the 2015 Draft.
COACH COMMENTS:
Aims for season 2016: "We want to be able to create an environment where we are all on the same page in regards to the way we want to play our football when you are mixing AFL and VFL listed players. I think we should at least be similar, if not a little bit than last year from a list point of view. Of course we are aiming to be a top eight team, and we have set ourselves a really good foundation after having a really poor year in 2014. We need to continue to establish really good behaviours in how we want to play our football, and create a really good brand of football."
Pre-season standouts: "Declan Keilty is a second year player out of TAC Cup, and only played the one senior game last year, but he was a kid that did a preseason with Melbourne. He is a key defensive type player, and is going to be someone that should play in our senior 22 most weeks. James Munro is another that has really impressed on the training track. He is a three year VFL player, but in regards to our testing he has been fantastic and played every game for us in the seniorS last year. Ed Morris has also set himself up for a good year. Couple of young kids that have come onto the scene are James Freeman, was on the radar to be drafted last year and kicked 30-plus goals in the TAC Cup and is a second or third key forward, and has impressed on the track. Jake Lovett is another that has impressed in the preseason, and has given himself a great opportunity to play senior football early on. Tom Baker from Rosebud, a power forward, he has shown certainly some characteristics that he is talented enough to come in and play VFL football. We have been teaching him about how VFL is played, and his leading patterns."
Loss of captain Evan Panozza: "He had been such great contributor over such a long period of time and certainly at VFL level he is such a rare commodity now days. We will miss him dearly from a leadership point of view, and from a playing point of view, but I think we have the cattle to replace him as a player. From a leadership point of view, he set really high standards and had a really professional approach to his football, but we feel we have three or four guys that can fill the void. They are going to be younger, but are certainly hungry and want the club to get better, with players like Tim Smith, Jack Hutchins, Jimmy Munro and Ed Morris."
INS & OUTS:
Ins: Damien Johnston, Daniel Johnston (Beaconsfield), Lachlan Batten, Mitch Cox, James Freeman, Jake Lovett (Dandenong Stingrays), Aaron Cotte (Eastern Ranges), Connor Ambler, Aloysio Ferreira (Gippsland Power), Oscar McInerney (Montrose), Todd Vander Haar (Old Xaverians), Tom Baker (Rosebud), Dylan Gordon (Warburton-Millgrove), Frank Anderson (Whitefriars), Yarran Jaffer-Williams (Wodonga Raiders)
Outs: Patrick Rosier, Lucas Walmsley (Frankston), Mitch Gent, Will Petropoulos (Noble Park), Joe Fisscher (Sandringham), Evan Panozza (Southport), Nathan Page (Tooradin)
* Photo: Edward Morris in action for the Casey Scorpions in 2015
Related stories:
2016 VFL PRE-SEASON HUB
Last Modified on 21/03/2016 10:00
